MSO7011 - Post-medieval mineral prospecting at Great Woolcombe (Monument)

A series of linear features and a circular earthwork are shown on aerial photographs at Great Woolcombe. At SS 7808 3749 is a steep sided sub-circular hollow 2.5 metres deep and 4.5 metres by 7 metres across. A rim of spoil surrounds the hollow on all but the western side. From its southwestern corner, a flat topped bank 0.5 metres high with a shallow ditch on the east runs southwards into an unnamed combe. These earthworks are clearly prospecting for iron or copper deposits, and the hollow may be a collapsed trial shaft. Further north, two linear features are seen on the same aerial photographs, which are probably prospecting trenches. [1,2] Mining remains thought to be of 19th Century date were identified on Horsen during the preliminary Earlier Iron-Working on Exmoor survey, run under the auspices of Exmoor National Park Authority and the National Trust (Holnicote Estate). [3] A linear feature, one of those described above, is visible on aerial photographs as an earthwork on the southern edge of Great Woolcombe. It is similar in form and alignment to the linear trenches visible on the northwestern edge of Great Woolcmbe, which were identified by Burton as prospecting trenches cut in an attempt to establish the limit of the lodes of Blue Gate Iron Mine. See MEM15412 and MEM15413. [4,5] 6.3.1, ? SS 781 374. Woolcombe Level. This may or may not be the approximate location of three trial trenches cut by Frederick Knight. Schneider and Hannay drove an adit westwards along the Woolcombe lode below the trenches for 35 metres, stopping in November 1856. [6] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [7]